Lynette Wallworth

Schools Program Learning Resources:

Coral: Rekindling Venus Coral – Rekindling Venus - Capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, ICT, Critical & Creative Thinking, Personal & Social Capability, Ethical Understanding Cross Curriculum priorities: Sustainability

Contents Coral: Rekindling Venus at Adelaide Festival...... 3 About Lynette Wallworth ...... 5 Coral: Rekindling Venus Synopsis ...... 6 Artist Statement: Lynette Wallworth ...... 6 About Lynette Wallworth ...... 6 Q & A with Lynette Wallworth ...... 8 About the collaborators ...... 14 David Hannan ...... 14 Max Richter ...... 14 Antony and the Johnsons ...... 15 Gurrumul ...... 16 Fennesz & Sakamoto ...... 16 Tanya Tagaq Gillis ...... 16 The Transit and Global Scientific Co-operation ...... 17 Fulldome Digital Planetariums ...... 18 About John Maynard: Producer ...... 18 About Bridget Ikin: Co-Producer...... 18 About David Metcalfe” Chief Executive, Forma ...... 18 About Felix Media ...... 19 About Forma Arts and Media ...... 19 Coral: Rekindling Venus Credits ...... 20 Themes in Coral: Rekindling Venus ...... 25 Task ideas...... 25 Discussion/Essay Questions...... 26 Research Topics ...... 26 Essay Writing Tips ...... 27 Review Writing Tips ...... 31 Use some new words ...... 33

Coral: Rekindling Venus at Adelaide Festival

Lynette Wallworth

This Adelaide Festival, audiences are invited to dive into an immersive film experience in fulldome cinema by renowned visual artist and film-maker Lynette Wallworth.

Under the giant projection dome of the Adelaide Planetarium, viewers will be surrounded by staggeringly beautiful coral reef imagery and high-resolution microscopic footage of a teeming underwater universe.

Wallworth, who this year won the UNESCO Sydney City of Film Award, immerses her audiences in the magic of a mysterious realm of fluorescent coral reefs, bioluminescent sea creatures and rare marine life living in the oceans most threatened by climate change.

A beautiful alien world portrayed in luminous colour without narration or polemics, the effect of Coral: Rekindling Venus on the eyes and ears will ignite in viewers a burning protest at the imminent disappearance of this teeming universe.

With a soundtrack by celebrated artists Gurrumul Yunupingu, Antony and the Johnsons (Anohni) and Tanya Tagaq Gillis, with additional music by Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto, the doc-art installation is as close as you can get to uncovering the mysteries of the ocean and understanding its complexities.

Adelaide Festival Artistic Directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield are proud to be presenting this important work at their inaugural Festival in 2017.

“Adelaide is very lucky to have the Mawson Lakes Planetarium, the perfect environment to showcase this internationally celebrated work from Lynette Wallworth. It poses important questions about the impact global warming is having on our ocean life, and is also an utterly unique work about our natural world,” Ms Healy said. “Lynette is rightly regarded as one of the great visual artists to come out of Australia and this particular work uses footage that is like nothing you have ever seen.”

“Lynette Walworth is a really significant, award winning film maker,” Mr Armfield said. “She has a way of getting a story and providing a focus that is clear and playful, and she is so receptive to beauty in the world and in people.”

Originally commissioned by the London Olympics, Coral: Rekindling Venus was shown simultaneously in 14 countries across the world to coincide with the Transit of Venus: a rare cosmic event that for hundreds of years has united even warring nations.

Lynette Wallworth feels Coral: Rekindling Venus is connectional, rather than educational, but she still wants to impart a message to her viewers.

“I don’t want to inform you of anything. I just want to offer you an experience that might build a connection to a community as complex as our own that happens to be underwater; and one at great risk of warming sea temperatures,” Ms Wallworth said.

A beautiful film that immerses the audience in the wonders of the water, Coral: Rekindling Venus seeks to allow people to build their own relationship to the corals, rather than document an underwater lifecycle. The shots are designed to carry viewers into the sea and leave them adrift in a world that might not exist in 100 years.

A production that is part meditation, part revelation and part hallucination, Coral: Rekindling Venus is a unique insight into a world deep below the surface of the ocean and has been lauded by critics worldwide:

“Immersive cinema at its most spectacular” – LA Times

“The experience Wallworth has made accessible through Coral is vexing and wondrous.” – ABC Arts

“Combined with a haunting soundtrack, it feels like you are living in a David Attenborough dream illustrated by Salvador Dali.” – Dox Magazine

“Audible gasps filled the room, audience members clasped their chests and a few left the planetarium in tears” – Huffington Post

About Lynette Wallworth Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist/filmmaker who has consistently worked with emerging media technologies. Wallworth’s work has shown at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, New York, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Smithsonian, Royal Observatory Greenwich for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad; Auckland Triennial; Adelaide Biennial; Brighton Festival and the Vienna Festival among many others as well as film festivals including-Sundance Film Festival, London Film Festival, Tibeca Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival and the Margaret Mead Film Festival.

She has been awarded an International Fellowship from Arts Council England, a New Media Arts Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts, the inaugural Australian Film, Television and Radio School Creative Fellowship and the Joan and Kim Williams Documentary Fellowship. She has had artist residencies in many parts of the world including Southern Italy, Iran, Northern England and New Mexico.

CORAL, Wallworth’s full dome film entirely focused on coral reefs premiered at the World Science Festival 2012 and the following week screened in 28 cities around the world aligned to the Transit of Venus. CORAL was awarded best fulldome art film at the 2012 Domie awards. Her first feature documentary TENDER, traces the beginnings of a community-led funeral company in Port Kembla. This work was awarded the AAACA award for best television documentary 2015 and the Grand Jury Prize, Pacific International Documentary Festival 2015. It was also nominated for the Grieson Award 2014 and Wallworth was nominated for the Margaret Mead Filmmaker award 2014. In 2012 Wallworth spent time with the remote WA Martu community to develop an immersive video work on traditional Martu hunting methods. In 2013 Wallworth took singer Anohni with her on a second visit resulting in a new immersive work for the 2014 Adelaide Biennial. In 2015 Wallworth was awarded Sundance Institutes first Virtual Reality Residency and created the acclaimed VR work COLLISIONS which recounts the story of Martu elder Nyarri Morgan’s experience of seeing an atomic test in the South Australian desert in the 1950’s. COLLISIONS premiered at the World Economic Forum, Davos 2016 and the following week at Sundance Film Festival. It continued to tour throughout 2016 to events such as the World Climate Summit, Washington, the CTBTO meetings at the UN, Vienna, the World Economic Forum, Tianjin and the UN General Assembly Meeting in New York. In 2016 Wallworth was awarded the UNESCO Sydney, City of Film Award. Wallworth regularly mentors at the Sundance Institute Labs. She is currently developing her next VR work to be filmed in the Amazon. CORAL: REKINDLING VENUS Conceived, Written and Directed by Lynnette Wallworth Producer John Maynard

Principal Cinematographer David Hannan Music Max Richter Songs Gurrumul Yunupingu, Antony and the Johnsons (Anohni), Tanya Tagaq Gillis Additional music Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto Adelaide Planetarium, Level 2, Building P, UniSA, University Boulevard, Mawson Lakes

Mon 6 Mar–Tue 7 Mar, 7pm Thu 9 Mar–Fri 10 Mar, 7pm Sat 11 Mar–Mon 13 Mar, 11am and 3pm Tue 14 Mar, 7pm Thu 16 Mar–Fri 17 Mar, 7pm Sat 18 Mar–Sun 19 Mar, 11am and 3pm Duration 45min Tickets $15 via BASS 131 246 or adelaidefestival.com.au

Coral: Rekindling Venus Synopsis A major work for fulldome digital planetariums, Coral: Rekindling Venus is an extraordinary journey into a mysterious realm of fluorescent coral reefs, bioluminescent sea creatures and rare marine life, revealing a complex community living in the oceans most threatened by climate change.

Artist Statement: Lynette Wallworth Imagine global co-operation for a global problem. Imagine corals as the barometer of climate change. Imagine we are the pivot point. Imagine rekindling Venus.

My intent is to leave the audience with a sense of wonder for the complexity of the coral community and a deep-felt longing to see it survive.

What is apparent when you watch the film are the remarkable survival mechanisms already at play in the community of coral reefs, mechanisms that will be put to the test in the coming years. We might see ourselves as two different communities interconnected in our own survival.

About Lynette Wallworth

Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist/filmmaker who has consistently worked with emerging media technologies. Wallworth’s work has shown at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, New York, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Smithsonian, Royal Observatory Greenwich for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad; Auckland Triennial; Adelaide Biennial; Brighton Festival and the Vienna Festival among many others as well as film festivals including-Sundance Film Festival, London

Film Festival, Tibeca Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival and the Margaret Mead Film Festival.

Q & A with Lynette Wallworth Notes supplied by Felix Media

What did you think when you first walked into a fulldome space? Actually I heard about fulldome spaces before I experienced them. I was intrigued because of their immersive potential and so I caught the bus to Canberra to attend a presentation about fulldome technology aimed at people who were running planetariums who might convert their systems to fulldome. They had a demo version set up. Part of what I heard that day stayed with me because I realised that the Directors of Planetariums were unsure about additional content that was not astronomical in nature so I knew from the start what I envisaged would take time to achieve. But, I was inspired and I knew that I would make a work for fulldome; that was in 2003, before Australia had any digital domes in operation. I applied for an Australia Council Fellowship and as part of my research on the fellowship I went to Albuquerque where I tested underwater material in the Lode Star Observatory where David Beining had begun Domefest, experimental short works for fulldome.

That was the first time I was actually in a fulldome environment. I loved it. The content I took with me looked incredible and I never gave up from that moment. Before I returned home I visited Isfahan in Iran because I wanted to experience just the dome structure itself and the way it is used in sacred architecture. The feeling has remained with me that something in the perfection of the shape acts on us making it an ideal space for contemplation. By the time I returned to Australia the Melbourne Planetarium was newly opened and running and I met with them and told them my idea, an underwater film for fulldome. They have been supporters ever since. It’s been a long road to get here.

Which ones have you been to in the world? Which are the most impressive?

Apart from those in Australia I have visited the Lodestar in Albuquerque as I mentioned, the Hayden in New York, the Harrison in Greenwich, and the Morrison in San Francisco shortly after it opened. The Morrison is very impressive because it is a huge expanse and you get an incredible sense of scale from it. But the Hayden is a rare concentric dome and feels extremely intimate, it has new projectors, Zorro’s, I saw them running last year and for someone like me who makes works for very dark spaces those projectors were a joy.

How did the idea of Coral: Rekindling Venus start in your mind? (I.e. what is it about coral that grabbed you, or were you always more interested in the metaphor?)

I think, like most artists, there is a thread that runs through my work that can be found in every piece, no matter what it is or when it was done. The thread that emerges in my work is essentially the quality of resilience, but not in a gung-ho, impossible to defeat kind of way, it is a resilience earned from hardship. When I first experienced the mass coral spawning on the Great Barrier Reef; that was about 12 years ago I developed HOLD Vessel 1. It’s impossible to miss the combination of

8 beauty and fragility in coral but the life force they exhibit in their drive to seed new life is a revelation. Subsequently when I have made work on women who have experienced great tragedy and then built extraordinary lives, I use the metaphor or coral resilience to describe them. We get seduced by the beauty of corals but they are complex communities who require diversity to thrive, they need the predator as much as they need the plankton, they live in absolute crushing proximity with a raft of species, many of whom live in symbiotic relationship with one another and they have evolved means of survival to counter all that we throw at them, if we give them time. I remain endlessly inspired by all I know about them.

How is the project different from an underwater documentary?

Like all my work, it is designed fundamentally to imagine the viewer in relation to the work. My aim is to immerse you inside the piece; that is what I care about. Immersion leads to connection and from that place your own relationship to the corals can emerge. I am not interested in telling you anything, selling you anything or preaching anything. I think these reefs are stunning enough to captivate and hold you in their thrall and very, very simply, like anyone you come to know, it is connection that makes you care. I will care more for a friend than a stranger; that is human nature, so connection matters when care is required. A natural history documentary might show you all the same things but its relationship to you is one of authority, it wants to inform, its sees us as passive receptors of information. I don’t want to inform you of anything. I just want to offer you an experience that might build a connection to a community as complex as our own that happens to be underwater, and one at great risk of warming sea temperatures. So all the shots in the work have been chosen with your orientation to them in mind, the work is designed to carry you into it. And then to leave you adrift in a world that might not exist in 100 years. Essentially this piece is about respect. That’s why the Gurrumul piece is placed as it is, in complete darkness at the start of the work, it is there to make us sit up and take notice, like a formal introduction, that we are about to visit another’s territory. And this is a visit, not a tour.

Does Marshall McLuhan’s "The medium is the message" have some resonance for you? He theorised that the form of a medium, (in this case the fulldome) somehow embeds itself in the message (the beauty and fragility of the coral), and influences how the message is perceived.

Domes have been important structures for humans since pre-history. They hold, therefore, some resonance for us that is as imperceptible as it is core. In the history of human architecture they are often aligned with spaces for contemplation. I absolutely believe the space itself holds the work in a way that impacts on us as it otherwise would not if it was playing for example on a parallel flat screen. The fact is just being in the dome, lying back and looking up at it with nothing on the screen, is an affecting sensation. My sense of it is that it is naturally expansive and so it allows for thoughts and responses that are outside of the everyday. That is of huge interest to me in situating a work.

How has the process of making this work been different from your usual way of working? Is it more like a film production?

A lot of the work I do is very similar to film production in the sense of filming, editing, wrangling data and delivery but the single biggest difference I encountered is the amount of communication that is expected by you to a whole raft of people whilst making a film in this arena. In the art world we are essentially left alone, there’s a space that is understood to be required in order for most artists to work at their best with their collaborators and that space is not one where you have to do a lot of talking. In film there seems to be an expectation to let in all these other voices. That doesn’t happen in the art world and while I understand why it’s there I think it takes something away because if you leave someone alone in quiet to do their work, and you trust them, what will emerge is the most extreme version of what they are able to create. In other words, the more distilled work will emerge in a more contained space. It seems a small thing but I am used to spending days not speaking to anyone when I am developing a work and I would have to say that is some of the most important work I can do.

I was lucky that John Maynard has worked with artists before and understands the essentially solitary nature of that process but the system that’s in place seems to counter that. The biggest difference is this, in making an artwork, especially using new technologies, funders are essentially trusting my process, whatever I envisage the work to be I then have to discover how to make it and in that process what emerges may look very different to what I described though I would say that it is essentially by following that process that I discover the work. In film you are expected to know everything before you start, explain everything before you start as a sort of failsafe, so nothing can go wrong. Trust is essential to making good work.

Did you ‘direct’ the cinematographer(s) – where did all the vision come from?

75% of the footage came from my friend and incredible cinematographer Dave Hannan. I knew from the start that his work would make up the majority of the piece and so I visited him at Stradbroke Island about two years ago to discuss it. Then we flew him to Melbourne to experience the fulldome environment so that he could see the different orientation in imagery that the space requires. After that we were in contact with me sending him still frames of the sorts of imagery I wanted. He did two, month long shoots after these meetings and sent hours of material and gave me access to many already existing shots based on what I needed. I knew Dave’s imagery very, very well and I have the kind of relationship with him that made the process an organic one. He was able to adjust his frame to get shots that are absolutely perfect for the dome and of his existing footage I could select what would work for me. We set up a small dome in the production facility so every shot could be looked at as it would be in the fulldome.

With other specific imagery like the coral fluorescence footage I had to find cinematographers who were shooting coral fluorescence - there aren’t many. Charles Mazel is a scientist who works a lot on fluoro corals and he put me in touch

10 with Guy Chaumette of Liquid Motion in Indonesia and in a similar process to that with Dave I explained what it was I needed without being able to be there whilst anything was shot sending images of frames where the focal point works for domes, this is very different from the standard frame. The fluoro reef section was always going to be an important component of the work so that was where a lot of my effort was focused. In addition I had found the Coral Morphologic imagery last year when I was in the US. They are also focused on coral fluorescence but in a studio setting which means they are in a much more controlled situation for filming and that is where we got that incredible coral behaviour in close-up from. They are based in Florida and have tanks of corals that they can film under blue light to expose the fluorescent colours in corals. I had experienced this kind of shoot myself with Dr Anya Salih who is the person who has taught me about the fluorescent capability of corals. I put Anya in touch with Colin Foord in Florida; he is a marine biologist, so she could also offer her suggestions on how to get action from the corals which basically means feeding them so they open their mouths. Their work is phenomenal and I am really happy it can be showcased the way it is in the film.

Anya also did a shoot for me the microscopic footage of the same behaviours in corals. She uses one specific coral that she calls Marlon Brando because it always performs. She is not set up generally to get the sort of footage we needed for the film so we had to work with her and Leica to get the microscope to deliver us the kind of sequences that you can see in the film. They are amazing, the details are incredible. The thing about the microscopic imagery is that it’s able to show the multiple colours of fluorescence in corals and you can see Anya is very good at getting behaviours from the corals. She shot a lot of footage working very late into the night at the Con-Focal Bio Imaging Lab at University of Western Sydney. I also got imagery from Allan Jones who works in the Electron Microscopy Unit at Sydney University. He takes scans using micro CT scanning which is the same sort of process that we have on our bodies to see structure when we have a CAT scan. Alan generates huge data sets which are microscopic slices through the structure of a shell for example that give you a way of seeing structurally. I have used Allan’s imagery before and this time he scanned some new shells for the work and they are spectacular.

I got some incredible geo acoustic underwater sounds from NOAA. These are sounds of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions recorded with a hydrophone. They are intensely physical. They also gave us usage of a selection of sounds recorded underwater where they don’t know what generated the sound. We have used some of them in the work and they are strange and captivating. Liam Egan, the sound designer, has done a great job with them.

What made you think of aligning your project with the Transit of Venus?

It’s a story that I find hopeful, incredible. I love the position of Halley imagining a moment he would not live to see and calling out to a generation of future astronomers to search for a piece of knowledge that would tell us something of our home. I love the time consuming nature of the quest and the ability for nations to

11 say that something greater than their long held enmity to another was at stake. I can’t think of what would bring us together at this moment, the closest we get is with the Olympic Truce where all nations are meant to put down arms in order to compete.

Great civilizations knew the cycles of Venus and would have watched for this event, it is wonderful to have a moment in time that you know won’t occur again in the lifetime of anyone now watching it. It creates a sense of perspective, causes us to imagine what might be when next the cycle occurs, it’s not only astronomers who have an interest in such a perspective. For me it was the perfect moment to imagine a work centred on a current global problem and set it adrift on that day to see where it might land.

Do you think we’re as capable of international co-operation as world leaders managed to be in the 1700s?

I don’t think we are currently capable of imagining it. Most of the stories we tell ourselves, through our current art forms like film and television are stories about the impossibility of global co-operation. I love this story of the 1760s transits precisely because someone imagined that it might be possible to co-operate to achieve an outcome that had no financial benefit for anyone involved. I think we have lost the ability to imagine a dream so grand and noble and simple. We elevate every day and at every level, our incompatibility, our territories, our disparateness but all the technologies for communication that we are currently obsessed with are exactly about connection beyond physical borders. Global communication between communities of interest is what we have achieved by these tools and maybe these tools for global communication might lead to moments of global co-operation. The technologies could offer us exactly that possibility.

I’m really struck by the choice of music in the film – there is a strong sense of the avant-garde, the artist musician. How did you decide what flavour of music would be right? Did you work one-on-one with Max Richter or Antony or any of the others?

I met with Max in London and then went to see him perform in Brighton. We talked about work and what became clear to me is that what he hopes to achieve in his work is of the same nature as what I am after, he is aiming to provide moments of transcendence, and he achieves that. He was a natural choice. His music is mesmeric, it acts on us like a perfect pattern, you get lost in it whilst seeing intricate and moments of beauty in each fragment. It is trance inducing, plus, he loves Manta rays. Tanya is a friend, we met when we both showed work at the Vienna Festival, we were on a panel brought together by Festival Director Peter Sellars, we hit it off and have stayed in touch ever since. Tanya spoke on that day about the pollution in Northern Canadian water systems and the high levels of toxins in breast milk of Inuit mothers, we live at extremes of the planet and our interests were resonate with one another from the start. Her voice brings breath and life in an ancient form, it is

12 essential and without artifice. I have imagined her voice in this work since I met her. We planned to work with one another then and we speak of it still for future works.

Antony’s voice is rare jewel. I met him when showing my work at the Lincoln Centre last year. David Metcalfe, UK co-producer of the work arranged the meeting for me. I begged him because the only voice I could imagine at the end of the work was Antony’s. He has something of the corals in his spirit, a combination of the incredible beauty of that voice and an aching vulnerability. I knew he would understand the intent of the work. He is passionately concerned about climate change. We talked for a long time, he had objects on his wall that were the colour of coral, he said, “Coral is the colour of paradise” I asked him then if he would write a song for the film and he agreed. I had beautiful moments subsequently of Antony singing Rise to me over Skype as he developed it. I sent him a poem with words that might be useful and from that he took just one word, RISE. He has been effortlessly wonderful to work with and his song is a sheer gift to the work. His are the only words most of us will understand so he is essentially the voice for the corals in the film. He leaves the film with these words, “Rise while there’s still something left to lose, Rise while we still have a chance to choose.”

The Gurrumul piece I have already mentioned, I knew exactly what I wanted for the beginning of the film. It was just fortunate to talk this through with Michael Hohnen from Skinnyfish at the time when Gurrumul was just beginning to record in this very different style for him. When Michael first played it to me fresh from recording he warned me that it was quite intense. I heard it and knew it had all the authority I had been searching for and contained within it that essence of formal meeting that had been my experience of entering Australian Indigenous communal lands. I met with Sakamoto in New York when I was imagining the music for the work; again he is both a great composer and an avid environmentalist. I would have liked to work with him in more depth but in the end we used one piece by him and Fennesz that I heard them perform in Melbourne and it is the perfect piece for that sequence in the film.

Max Richter says he thinks of music as a “storytelling medium”. Since there is no narration or dialogue in the ‘film’ – is there an extent to which the music “writes the narrative?”

The music helps us connect to feelings that otherwise might not be so easily tapped. The music releases us to feel. The visual structure was always roughly there so the music didn’t inform that but it helps each sequence to unfold in its emotional intensity.

Do you see planetarium/fulldome spaces becoming more widely used by artists now?

The thing is that they always could be but it’s a difficult process and essentially what hampered me was funding. What is clear in this process is that the funding structure in Australia is the only reason this work has come about, I don’t think I could have

13 gotten it made anywhere else in the world, that’s why there are so few films of this type existing. Screen Australia and Screen NSW took a risk on funding something for a new cinema experience and it was extremely important that we do it well, because then a door is opened that others might go through. It was a testing ground; it needed the experience of a John Maynard to guide it through those funding processes and to stand the ground on not diminishing what was required to do it well. But it still needs to be received into the planetariums that have these extraordinary immersive spaces but with very specific content. It will find an audience I am sure, if it is given a chance to be seen and that comes down to what happens next. If it is allowed to break through and settle into the fulldome screening cycle then I imagine and I hope there will be a stampede of artists developing new works for the dome.

What other new technologies have you got your eye on? There is a companion piece for the film, it’s an augmented reality work that was commissioned by the Adelaide Film Festival and allows you to view posters of corals through your phone and see the 2D image fall into a 3D space. That was really new technology to wrangle into an artwork but I love the challenge of it. I have a few ideas on the boil for what comes next, one project will take me to the Great Sandy Desert in WA and it’s those remote locations where technology comes into its own.

About the collaborators A collection of cinematographers and musicians was brought together by Lynette because many of them share similar views on the issues closest to the heart of the work. Some, like Dave Hannan and Tanya Tagaq are long-time friends. Others like Antony Hegarty and Sakamoto are new associates whose views on the environment caused a natural resonance.

David Hannan Principal Cinematographer David Hannan is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer and producer based on North Stradbroke Island, in Queensland, Australia. David has teamed with many broadcasters, including; ABCTV-Australia, NOVA, PBS, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, ABC Kane USA, Natural History New Zealand, NHK and the BBC. His multi-award-winning programs include: Coral Sea Dreaming, Sex on the Reef, Eye on the Reef, Australia’s Marine World, Crown of Thorns, Monster from the Shallows, Antarctica Dreaming, Undersea Edens and feature-documentary Sharkwater. He has amassed one of the largest marine footage libraries in the world, and is director and co-founder of the Ocean Ark Alliance, focused on regional and global marine conservation initiatives. [email protected] www.oceanarkalliance.com

Max Richter “At his saddest, Richter sounds like Gorecki, at his most penetrating, like Michael

Nyman on a backdrop of concrete and rain.” Word Magazine (UK)

German-born composer, Max Richter, studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. Richter then co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble, Piano Circus, and played with them for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich.

Since then he has worked with an eclectic mix of musicians; The Future Sound of London, Roni Size, Vashti Bunyan and Kelli Ali, stretching the notion of what classical music is.

Max works widely in film music, installation and the theatre, most recently for The Royal Ballet, London, on INFRA. He has scored more than 25 films, including Waltz With Bashir, for which he was named European Composer of the Year in 2008. Richter says “I think of music as a storytelling medium…when I’m listening to a piece of music, it’s a one-to-one conversation.” www.maxrichtermusic.com

Antony and the Johnsons “Cries From the Heart, Crashing Like Waves …he poured out his uncanny voice: a preternaturally sustained, androgynous croon, steeped in melancholy and awe.” New York Times

Antony Hegarty (b. UK. 1971) is a composer and visual artist, best known as the lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons. He grew up in California and moved to New York in 1990, where Antony and the Johnsons built a cult following, and where Antony received a New York Foundation for the Arts Award (NYFA) for “performance art/emergent forms”.

In 2000 the group’s debut album Blue Angel highlighted Antony’s soulful, multi- octave vocals. He went on to appear on two Lou Reed albums, touring with him in 2003.

The band's second full-length album, I Am a Bird Now was released in 2005, and won the UK Mercury Prize.

In January 2012 Antony and the Johnsons were commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art to perform Swanlights at Radio City Music Hall. The performance was a collaboration with laser artist Chris Levine and set designer Carl Robertshaw, and incorporated a 60-piece orchestra. It was hailed a triumph by the New York Times. Recently the Southbank Centre in London announced that Antony is to direct Meltdown 2012 - an honour bestowed on some of the world's most distinguished musicians including Nick Cave, John Peel, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, David Bowie and Ray Davies.

15 www.antonyandthejohnsons.com

Gurrumul “the sound of a higher being” - Sting

Gurrumul is an Australian Aboriginal singer who sings in the Yolngu language. He was born blind. He belongs to the Gumatj clan on Elcho Island, off North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. He first came to attention when he released his debut album Gurrumul to international claim in 2008. He was nominated for four ARIA awards winning Best World Music Album and Best Independent Release. He also won three Deadlys, for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Single of the Year. His second solo album Rralak in 2011 went Gold.

He has become an enigma in the Australian music industry. His fragile but powerfully emotive voice has affected the public in a way no other artist has done. Gurrumul sings songs about identity, ancestral beings and connection with the land. “Gurrumul will change the way you breathe” - Kathleen Noonan www.gurrumul.com

Fennesz & Sakamoto

Christian Fennesz (b.1962) is an Austrian, electronic musician, who uses guitar and notebook computers to make multilayered compositions. His work blends melody and conventional instruments with harsh, irregular glitch-influenced sounds and washes of white noise. His lush and luminous compositions are anything but sterile computer experiments however, they resemble sensitive, telescopic recordings of rainforest insect life or natural atmospherics, an inherent naturalism permeating each piece. www.fennesz.com

Ryuichi Sakamoto (b.1952) is a Japanese pianist, composer, record producer, writer, singer and actor - based in Tokyo and New York. He began his career in 1978, in the pioneering electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra. Together these two titans make contemplative experimental music that combines traditional instruments and modern production methods. They have collaborated on three works, Flumina, Sala Santa Cecilia and Cendre. www.sitesakamoto.com

Tanya Tagaq Gillis “... she was a dynamo, delivering a sort of gothic sound art while she stalked the small basement stage with feral energy.” - Jon Caramanica, The New York Times Tanya Tagaq Gillis is an Inuit throat singer from Nunavut in Canada’s high arctic. Tanya was surrounded by Inuit culture growing up, but it was the sound of pop giants Janis Joplin and the Doors that first captured her imagination. Improvising 16 most of her performances, she says: “It feels like I dial in another frequency. I go to places where I surrender to all that terrifies and excites me.”

She is known for her collaborations and concert tours with Björk, Mike Patton and rapper Buck 65 and has performed with the Kronos Quartet at various locations including Carnegie Hall. She also dazzled audiences at the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.

Tanya has released two critically acclaimed albums – Sinaa (2005) for which she won Best Female Artist at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and Auk/Blood (2008) which also won a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. www.isuma.tv/tagaq

The Transit and Global Scientific Co-operation

“In 1716 astronomer Edmond Halley calculated that you can quantify the distance from the sun to the earth (solar parallax) by having observers across the globe time the passage of Venus across the sun. Knowing he would not live to see the next transit, Halley predicted global sites that would be suitable for viewing a transit and called upon future generations to pursue his plan. .... The quest to time the transit of Venus in 1761, during the Seven Years War, marked the first time the international community cooperated to answer one of the leading scientific questions of the day.” — NASA website

In the eighteenth century, the Transit of Venus contributed crucially to our knowledge of the universe. Hostilities were ceased to let scientists sail the globe safely, taking measurements that underpin astronomy today. It was the first attempt, in The Age of Reason, at global co-operation.

"Finally, the problem of the transits of Venus produced an intensity and breadth of effort on the part of 18th-Century scientists that was unmatched by any other single problem. It brought to a common focus men of almost every national background with an abiding concern for the advancement of knowledge. In doing so, it helped to shape the growing international community of science and to demonstrate with striking clarity what co-operation and goodwill might achieve in the peaceful pursuit of truth." — H Woolf, Author of The Transits of Venus (1959)

A quarter of a millennium later, Venus will transit the sun again on the 5th/6th of June 2012. Marking the event, and marking World Environment Day on the 5th June, artist Lynette Wallworth has created a work of mesmerising beauty about climate change and coral reefs. For her, The Transit of Venus reminds us that we again face problems that cannot be solved by one nation acting alone, where the notion of co- operation “to the benefit of all humanity” still applies.

Fulldome Digital Planetariums

Over the past 60 years planetarium technology has evolved from optical star projections and motorised planets moving across the ceiling, to awe-inspiring digital domes, which enable a fully immersive experience.

Artists at this frontier are seeking to explore the immersive space where art, technology, science and beauty can converge. “Lynette Wallworth is at that frontier cracking open the fulldome as a space for artists. Her work, CORAL: Rekindling Venus is a frameless meditation on the fragility and fascinating beauty of coral”. John Maynard, Producer

About John Maynard: Producer John is well known as a producer with an eye for talent, producing the debut feature films of a number of directors - Jane Campion, Vincent Ward, Rowan Woods, Robert Connolly and Richard Roxburgh.

He was the foundation director (1967) of the public art museum, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, in New Zealand, which houses the works of pioneer filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Len Lye. He was Director of The Len Lye Foundation for 10 years.

He was awarded an Honorary Master’s Degree in 2003 at the Australian Film Television and Radio School for his “commitment, as a creative producer, to ground breaking independent cinema and for nurturing new Australian talent”. www.felixmedia.com.au

About Bridget Ikin: Co-Producer

Bridget Ikin is a passionate champion of new and innovative filmmaking, having worked as an independent producer in Australia and New Zealand for more than 25 years through her company Hibiscus Films.

Bridget was Head of SBSi, commissioning 400+ hours of distinctive Australian television. She was the Associate Director – Film, of the Adelaide Festival 2002, a feature film Evaluation Manager at the FFC (now Screen Australia) in 2005-06. She is currently a board member of the South Australian Film Corporation. www.felixmedia.com.au

About David Metcalfe” Chief Executive, Forma

David Metcalfe is the founder and Chief Executive of Forma Arts and Media, based in London, UK. His work as a creative producer has, for over 25 years, championed art that breaks new ground, focusing on high quality, inter-disciplinary innovation.

The creation of Forma in 2002 followed eight years during which David worked as an independent producer and consultant, directing festivals and public art commissions for clients across the UK. Between 1987 and 1994, David worked for Nottingham City Council, founding and directing its high profile annual festival of contemporary art, Now.

His productions have encompassed exhibitions, films, concerts, performances, digital projects, public art and publications. He has edited several books and has served as an advisor to Arts Council England and as a juror for several arts and architectural awards. www.forma.org.uk

About Felix Media Felix Media was set up in 2011, by producers John Maynard and Bridget Ikin: “Our aim is to produce original screen-based works by artists – and to make them accessible, be they for presentation in cinema, as public art gallery installations, broadcast or online.

We intend to create extraordinary works, which offer memorable and provocative insights into the way we view our world, our times and ourselves. We take an enterprising approach to all aspects of our work – from financing, to production, to marketing and distribution, looking always to challenge convention and take risks. We value exceptional quality over quantity, and seek to develop long- term relationships with the artists we work with.” www.felixmedia.com.au

About Forma Arts and Media

Forma Arts and Media is one of Europe’s foremost creative producing agencies, working with outstanding artists to initiate develop and deliver innovative new projects. Established in 2002, the company is acclaimed widely for its high quality, contemporary, interdisciplinary productions, which fulfil their potential and inspire large audiences across the UK and internationally. Spanning exhibitions, concerts, performances, films, public art works, online projects and publications, Forma’s programme is presented in collaboration with major venues and festivals.

Through supporting research, innovation and the ongoing distribution of its productions, Forma aims to make a significant contribution to the development of new ways of making, presenting and experiencing art. www.forma.org.uk

Coral: Rekindling Venus Credits

SCREEN AUSTRALIA, SCREEN NSW AND FELIXMEDIA present

CORAL Rekindling Venus

Conceived, Written and Directed by LYNETTE WALLWORTH

Produced By JOHN MAYNARD

Co-Producers BRIDGET IKIN DAVID METCALFE

Principal Cinematographer DAVID HANNAN

Editors ELLIOTT MAGEN KARRYN DE CINQUE

Sound Design and Mix LIAM EGAN

Music by MAX RICHTER

Songs by GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU, ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, TANYA TAGAQ GILLIS

Additional music by FENNESZ AND SAKAMOTO

Music Editor ALAN JOHN

Originating Producer SUE MASLIN

Production Manager JODIE PASSMORE

Archival Researcher RENÉE CREA

Post Production Supervisor MEGAN YOUNG

Post Production Facility DEFINITION FILMS

Director of Post Production DAVID GROSS

Online Conform Editors LIAM RODDEN PETER SIMON

Colourist TRISH CAHILL

Titles BEN BLICK-HODGE

Technical Advisor WARIK LAWRANCE

Principal Scientific Advisor

DR ANYA SALIH

Supported by Australian Film Television and Radio School Creative Fellowship & Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks, Museum Victoria

Fluorescent Footage Coral Morphologic LLC. Dr Anya Salih, Confocal Bio-Imaging Facility, School Science and Health, University of Western Sydney. David Hannan.

Micro CT Scanning Associate Prof Allan Jones, Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, The University of Sydney

Fluorescent Footage Liquid Motion Film

Thank you to Monica Zetlin, Carter Emmart, Paul Bourke, John Charlie Veron, Charles Mazel, Glen Moore Dermot Allen - Division of Microscopy and Imaging, Leica Microsystems Pty Ltd, Australia, Robyn Higdon and Exploratorium

Additional Footage by Plankton Productions Absolutely Wild Visuals Getty Images Footage Search Thought Equity Motion

Additional Sound by Robert Dziak, Matt Fowler CIMRS/Oregon State University, NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Newport

Music (in order)

Ngarrpiya (Ambient)

Performed by Gurrumul Written by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu Licensed courtesy of Skinnyfish Music Published by SonyATV

Found Song for P, Infra 3 Max Richter FatCat Records Mute Song Publishing

The Twins (Prague) Max Richter BBC Worldwide Imagem Music Organum, Lullaby from the Westcoast Sleepers Max Richter FatCat Records Mute Song Publishing

November, Laika’s Journey Max Richter BBC Worldwide Imagem Music

Journey 2, Infra 1 Max Richter FatCat Records Mute Song Publishing

Sila © Tanya Gillis (SOCAN) Used by permission of Jericho Beach Music

Sarajevo

Max Richter BBC Worldwide Imagem Music

Breather © Tanya Gillis (SOCAN) Used by permission of Jericho Beach Music

Last Days Max Richter BBC Worldwide Imagem Music Cendre Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto Sony/ATV Music Publishing Touch 2007 ©

The Trees Max Richter FatCat Records Mute Song Publishing

Rise Antony and the Johnsons © Rebismusic 2012 (Kobalt/ASCAP)

Marketing & Distribution Peter Castaldi

Designer - Poster/Press Books Jeremy Saunders

Press Book Content Christina Andreef

Marketing Coordinator Donna Chang

Production Accountant Leah Hall

Legals Caroline Verge (Verge Whitford & Co)

Australasian and UK distribution Felixmedia

International Sales Sky-Skan

Themes in Coral: Rekindling Venus  Sustainability  Beauty and fragility  Survival  Lifecycle  Respect

Task ideas  Write a review of Coral: Rekindling Venus.  Write an essay based on one of the questions in the ‘Essay/Discussion Questions’ section.  Study the use of fulldome cinema. Examine the impact of the Wallworth’s storytelling techniques for an audience.  Choose one of the themes listed above and write a narrative based upon it.  Imagine you are a deep sea diver or photographer. Write a journal entry about your imagined experience.  Create your own cinematic experience using photography to create your film.  Write and perform a monologue based on the ideas in Coral: Rekindling Venus.  Think about the idea of sustainability and respecting the earth. Complete a research project on how humans could better treats the world we live in.  Create a dramatic representation based on one of the above themes.  Take some film or still photos of nature in action, document the process.

 Write a reflection on your experience of seeing Coral: Rekindling Venus in full dome cinema, stating what you felt, learned and experienced, and how it has affected your present thoughts and future goals.  Study to what extent elements of photography, can create mood, enhance themes and drive a plot.

Discussion/Essay Questions  “Essentially this piece is about respect. That’s why the Gurrumul piece is placed as it is, in complete darkness at the start of the work, it is there to make us sit up and take notice, like a formal introduction, that we are about to visit another’s territory. And this is a visit, not a tour.” With reference to Wallworth’s work, discuss the importance of using Gurrumul’s music to complement the footage.  How is the use of a unique venue effective in producing an engaging performance?  Discuss the idea that a production does not need a voiceover or narrative to be effective.  Writer and philosopher Terrence McKenna said, ““Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.” Discuss this quote in relation to Lynette Wallworth’s work and the message it conveys.  “I don’t want to inform you of anything. I just want to offer you an experience that might build a connection to a community as complex as our own that happens to be underwater; and one at great risk of warming sea temperatures,” Lynette Wallworth said. To what extent, and in what way, does Wallworth express her message successfully?

Research Topics  Life underwater  Lynette Wallworth  Environmental sustainability  A warming world  Full dome cinema  Underwater film and photography  Lifecycles of underwater creatures

Essay Writing Tips Writing an essay can seem like a huge task, but with a bit of organisation, a plan and a breakdown of the essay question, an essay can become a manageable assignment.

Here are some tips to help keep the stress levels down and assist you to write an essay you can be proud to submit.

Choose a question:

 Choose a question you are interested in finding out the answer to.

 Define your purpose. Is your essay to inform or persuade? Once you have determined your purpose, you will need to start breaking down the question.

 Highlight the key words in the question. These will become the focus of your essay. These highlighted words will become the focus of your plan. Highlight words that might narrow the argument down, for example, “between chapters 1 and 3”, “during the 19th century” or “with reference to the minor characters”. Use a dictionary to look up any words you don’t understand.

 Highlight what the question is asking you to do. Is it ‘discuss’, ‘argue’, ‘explain’, ‘compare’? Does the question ask for personal opinion or experience? Make sure you keep coming back to these instructions to make sure you are meeting the criteria.

 Don’t Google the question! There may be plenty of answers to the question online, but that doesn’t mean they’re good/right.

Prepare an outline or diagram of your ideas.

 In order to write a successful essay, you need to organise your thoughts. After you’ve highlighted the key words in the question, jot down your ideas around them. You can do this either in a mind map, spider diagram, or whatever way your planning works best. By taking your ideas and putting them to paper, you will be able to see links between your ideas more clearly, and this will help to flesh them out with examples and evidence.

 A good way to organise the essay is to divide your answer to the question into three parts. If you’re having trouble finding points ask yourself, ‘what are three good reasons this answer to the question is the right one’. Those three reasons become your main points to answer your topic and the ones you will back up with quotes from the text or examples from the performance.

 Note some quotations that may be useful, but also jot down the page number, so you can ensure the source of the quotes is acknowledged and referenced if they're used. Write your thesis statement.

 Once your ideas are sorted into relevant categories, you can create a thesis statement. Your thesis statement tells the reader the point of your essay; it answers the question. To discover your thesis question, look at your outline or diagram.

 Your thesis statement has two parts. The first part states summarises the question and the second part answers it, presenting the point of the essay.

Write the body.

 The body of your essay argues your answer to the question or topic. Each main idea from your diagram or outline will become a separate section within the body of your essay.

 Each body paragraph will have the same basic structure. Begin by writing one of your main ideas as the introductory sentence. This topic sentence should have impact, so make it strong. Under your topic sentences, write each of your supporting ideas in sentence form, but leave three or four lines in between each point to come back and give detailed examples to back up your position. Fill in these spaces with relative information (quotes, examples, evidence) that will help link ideas together. Use words like ‘however’, ‘moreover’, ‘in addition’ to link to the previous paragraph.

 Always begin your paragraph with a topic sentence to make clear what the paragraph is about. For example:

“Playwrights often present similar ideas in different ways. Williamson’s interpretation of Hamlet is no exception to this.”

“The death of Tom Robinson can clearly be linked to three people.”

 Explain your point and give a clear example from the text or production to support.

 Finish each paragraph by linking the idea back to the question.

 Embed your quotes effectively and intelligently. Don’t include a quotation for its own sake, or one that floats amongst your sentences. Integrate them into the paragraphs with context. For example:

Richard III defends his actions, believing that, “Conscience is but a word that cowards use” (Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 3, p14). 

Versus

Richard III defends his actions. “Conscience is but a word that cowards use”. (Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 3, p14). 

 Avoid passive language or sweeping generalisations. You should use strong, impactful sentences backed up with relevant evidence.

Add an introduction.

 Now that you have developed your thesis and planned the body of your essay, you can write your introduction. The introduction should attract the reader’s attention, show the focus of your essay and answer the question.

 Make sure you name any texts to be discussed.

Write the conclusion.

 The conclusion should do just that: conclude. No new information should be brought up in the conclusion and you should avoid using quotes or evidence in this part. The conclusion brings closure of the topic and sums up your overall ideas while providing a final perspective on your topic. To write a strong conclusion, simply review your main points and provide reinforcement of your thesis.

Polish your essay.

 If this is a draft, it is important you are submitting your best work for drafting. Your teacher should not be seeing the first draft of your work. You should proofread (reading your essay aloud will help you to find errors) several times and make sure you are giving a draft that is free of errors. If your teacher is spending their time adding or subtracting apostrophes, correcting spelling, telling you to reference or adding inverted commas to quotes, they will not be paying close attention to the content, which is where the good grades are. Help your teacher to get you the best grade possible by submitting your best work for drafting.

 Check the order of your paragraphs. Your strongest points should be the first and last paragraphs within the body, with the others falling in the middle. Make sure that your paragraph order makes sense and you have effective linking sentences.

 Read the question again. Have you answered it?

 Read the assessment criteria. Have you met the requirements?

 Have you ‘discussed’, ‘explained’, ‘analysed’, ‘compared’ as the essay question asks you to do? Have you included personal experience or opinion in every paragraph (only if the essay question indicates)?

 Delete anything irrelevant and stick to the word limit.

 Read your essay again (and then maybe again!).

 You are ready to submit!

Review Writing Tips

While there is no perfect formula for review writing, there are some basic techniques you should consider in order to write an effective, engaging review. A review is both a report of an event and an appraisal of it. As a report, it should give basic factual detail, such as the place and date of the performance, the full name of the company and the name and author(s) of the text (and the text it is based upon, if applicable). It is also important to credit the director, costume, set and lighting designer(s) and actors. Make sure to access a program, rather than try to improvise without one. Programs often include all the facts you need, as well as directors’ notes, which might help you get an idea of the company's objectives and viewpoints.

When you attend the event you are going to review, make sure you get there in comfortable time, get your program and get settled in. Look around you a bit; take a look at the set, if it's visible. See who the audience is and get some sense of their reaction to the show. Take notes if you can, but you may discover it isn’t easy writing in the dark. The important thing is that you note your impressions, themes, moments when the show comes to life, or times when it is unsatisfying.

Prepare yourself beforehand. If it is a classic work, like Richard III by Shakespeare or an historically recent work like Waiting for Godot- read the play, or at least become familiar with it. You are not there for the suspense and titillation of the story; rather, you want to know what they have done with the original production.

In the review itself, don't get caught up retelling the plot - we already know what happened to Macbeth and Hamlet. But, in the case of a new play, you will need to give a synopsis of the plot as part of your information. Having said that, the synopsis should only be brief, and not a bunch of paragraphs recounting the narrative.

Your review is a personal piece and can be in any sequence you wish, but it might be advisable to start factually and work your way gradually to the evaluative comments. A sequence like the following works well:

 An introduction indicating the name and nature of the production.

 A paragraph or two briefly outlining what happens.

 A paragraph on the director's role - what styles has he/she used, what interpretation has been imposed?

 An account of the performances, the design (costumes, set, lighting) and how well these aspects highlight the ideas and themes in the work.

 Don't generalise - superlatives or condemnation are not much use without examples. Always try and find an instance which illustrates your point. Don't just say it was ‘wonderful’ or, worse still, ‘boring’, without accounting for yourself.

 A conclusion appraising the success of all these elements.

Remember that the production sets its own terms of success - within budget, expertise, the quality of the concept, whether it’s a touring company etc. Be reasonable within those terms. Be gracious. You are assessing a production, rather than writing an essay arguing why the company did or didn’t ruin Romeo and Juliet. You can be honest, but not insulting. You’re not a sit down comedian and your review shouldn’t be full of clever one-liners. Your task is to give a clear and vivid account of the performance.

It helps to read other reviews, but not ones on the show you are covering. You either end up feeling you can't repeat ideas or that you are in a debate with another reviewer, or sometimes you might inadvertently take those ideas and use them as your own. Trust you own judgment, it doesn't matter what the others are saying. If you want to read reviews to get an idea of how some good ones are written, though, look in The Australian, The Adelaide Review, The Guardian, New Yorker, etc.

Theatre reviewing will help you develop your understanding of drama and the theatre. It will improve your theatre literacy skills. The task of reviewing will make you more responsive to what you see and improve your creative and critical thinking skills.

Theatre reviews should:  Give an accurate impression of the performance for someone who has not been there  Convey a considered, personal judgement of the quality of the experience  Consider how a text was interpreted.

Here are some other things to mention:  What kind of play is it? What is it about? Mention the genre and style of the piece. Is it dance, drama, music? Is it absurdist, realism or contemporary? Is it elaborate, simple, rough, naturalistic, or a mixture of styles?  What is the nature of the theatre experience? You must note your own responses, but as theatre is a public event, you should make mention of how others respond, the atmosphere of the evening, and the social context.

Style guide: This will vary from teacher to teacher, publication to publication, but here are some things to note  List the details of the show, theatre, date at the top of the review  Use the full names of the author, playwright, crew, actors, and director in the first instance. Subsequent mentions must be referenced by surname.  Use title case and italics for the show name  Use short paragraphs  Don’t use too many gushing superlatives (‘amazing’ is way overused. Try something different – there’s a list below)

 Check your facts: spelling, grammar, dates, names, historical references etc.  Talk about all of the aspects of theatre (set, costume, design, lighting, script, direction, music, sound, acting, theatre)

Use some new words

General adjectives associated with performance: Outrageous, shocking, persuasive, compelling, inspiring, affecting, absorbing, daring, provocative, obscure, delightful, captivating, morbid, surreal, challenging, nostalgic, complex, spectacular, chilling, foreboding, enchanting, astonishing.

Words to describe the mood or tone: Entertaining, facetious, sensational, didactic, bombastic, forceful, servile, persuasive, chauvinistic, nostalgic, querulous, guarded, indifferent, sensible, earnest, fervent, wistful, embittered, detached, sincere, tolerant, jocular, cautious, pensive, thoughtful, passionate, conservative, arrogant, critical, ponderous, antagonistic, ardent, admiring, disrespectful, bitter, cynical, satirical, sardonic, sarcastic, quizzical, ironical, anxious, resentful, disappointing, cautious, neutral, despondent, pessimistic

Words to describe the direction: Skilled, purposeful, exciting, clever, thought-provoking, challenging, stimulating, visually exciting, aesthetic, earnest, cautious, sincere, sensitive, sensitive, aggressive, theatrical, dynamic, confident, bold, adventurous, conservative, lacklustre, predictable.

Words to describe the set:

Elaborate, realistic, understated, rough, skeletal, simplistic, minimal, abstract, naturalistic, unrealistic, cubist, surreal, stylised, traditional, representational, imaginative, lush, dense, open, vivid, jagged, symbolic, shiny, lavish, detailed, sparse, functional, elegant, delicate, durable, romantic, impressionist, expressionist.

Words to describe costumes: Outrageous, transforming, flattering, stylish, elegant, chic, bright, dull, plain, elaborate, ornate, evil, revealing, tailored, period, symbolic, ornate, vivid, lavish, stylised, colourful, extravagance, simplistic, beautiful, dainty, alluring, luxurious.

Words to describe the makeup: Skilfully applied, realistic, period, fantastical, shocking, simple, elaborate, vivid, stylised, abstract, traditional, clever, minimal.

Words to describe sound: Menacing, rhythmical, repetitive, haunting, eerie, overpowering, complementary, engulfing, pulsating, lapping, trickling, swishing, blaring, lyrical, grating.

Words to describe lighting and effects: Simplistic, minimal, abstract, eerie, dull, gloomy, bright, majestic, shocking, forbidding, shadowy, luminous, flickering, twinkling, hypnotic, pulsating, flashing, thematic.

Words to describe style and/or genre: Comedy, classical, symbolic, expressionistic, absurdist, naturalistic, representational, tragic, comic, satirical, melodramatic, surreal, period, traditional, contemporary, existentialist, avant-garde, romantic, allegorical, farcical.

Words to describe character: Miserly, clumsy, careless, conceited, cocky, ambitious, mean, merciful, confident, generous, gracious, greedy, gregarious, garrulous, noble, needy, humble, grotesque, irritable, lazy, loyal, patient, pragmatic, placid, serious, eccentric, quarrelsome, industrious, petulant, enlightened, reliable, determined, cruel, arrogant, sophisticated, slovenly, vivacious, cantankerous, fussy, obsessive, unpredictable, neurotic, uncouth, vicious, mature, shrewd, insular, feminie, effeminate, calculating, callous, self-indulgent, flippant, jaded, compassionate, zealous, brash.

Words to describe performance: Dynamic, disciplined, pedestrian, uninspired, complex, flat, skilful, agile, versatile, emotive, compelling, surprising, delightful, demanding, under-stated, lively, energetic, restrained, inspired.

Words instead of ‘good’: Capable, quality, fine, adept, accomplished, masterly, skilful, seasoned, vigorous, adept, high-standard, superior, skilled, proficient, choice, sound, supreme, prominent, pre-eminent, potent, important, distinguished, illustrious, influential,

34 awe-inspiring, grand, splendid, majestic, monumental, resplendent, brilliant, impressive, magnificent, imposing, enjoyable, profound.

Words instead of ‘effective’: Powerful, practical, emphatic, moving, affecting, compelling, competent, impressive, potent, striking, telling, cutting, penetrating, sharp, successful, efficacious.